Recent Asian debt market transactions have put high-yield notes capabilities back on law firm agendas. Four Chinese property companies have recently offered high-yield notes with a total deal value of US$1.37bn.

As the four major offerings took place almost simultaneously, many firms including Jingtian & Gongcheng, Commerce & Finance, Davis Polk and Conyers Dill & Pearman have benefited from mandates by both issuers and purchasers. 

The four - Fantasia Holdings, Yanlord Land, Renhe Commercial and Agile Property - are amongst the latest to turn to offshore funding in light of tightening domestic markets, raising US$120m, US$300m, US$300m and US$650m respectively.

Agile is a Chinese property developer based in Guangzhou, China, and is one of the largest property developers in the Pearl River Delta region.

*Merrill Lynch International, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Singapore and Standard Chartered Bank acted as initial purchasers

Renhe's US$435m IPO two years ago was advised by Morrison & Foerster and Latham & Watkins. Conyers Dill & Pearman, Jingtian & Gongcheng, Kaiwen and Norton Rose also played a part advising Renhe's IPO, but all four firms were engaged by joint arrangers instead.

Renhe is a PRC-based underground shopping centre operator and developer that focuses on the operation and development of stand-alone underground shopping centres.

*JPMorgan Securities and Merrill Lynch and UBS AG acted as initial purchasers for the offering.

This offering is Yanlord's debut offering of non-convertible debt securities.

*The Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered Bank acted as initial purchasers for the offering.

* Citigroup Global Markets, Merrill Lynch International and UBS AG are the initial purchasers. ALB